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biography
BORN: February
18, 1965
More than any other rapper, Dr. Dre was responsible for moving
away from the avant-noise and political stance of Public Enemy
and Boogie Down Productions, as well as the party vibes of old
school rap. Instead, Dre pioneered gangsta rap and his own
variation of the sound, G-Funk. BDP's early albums were
hardcore but cautionary tales of the criminal mind, but Dre's
records with NWA celebrated the hedonistic, amoralistic side
of gang life. Dre was never much of a rapper -- his rhymes
were simple and his delivery was slow and clumsy -- but as a
producer, he was extraordinary. With NWA he melded the noise
collages of the Bomb Squad with funky rhythms. On his own, he
reworked George Clinton's elastic funk into the self-styled
G-Funk, a slow-rolling variation that relied more on sound
than content. When he left NWA in 1992, he founded Death Row
Records with Suge Knight, and the label quickly became the
dominant force in mid-'90s hip-hop thanks to his debut, The
Chronic. Soon, most rap records imitated its sound, and his
productions for Snoop Doggy Dogg, Warren G and Blackstreet
were massive hits. For nearly four years, G-funk dominated
hip-hop, and Dre had enough sense to abandon it and Death Row
just before the whole empire collapsed in late 1996. Dre
retaliated by forming a new company, Aftermath, and while it
was initially slow getting started, his bold moves forward
earned critical respect.
Dr. Dre (b. Andre Young, February 18, 1965) became involved in
hip-hop during the early '80s, performing at house parties and
clubs with the World Class Wreckin' Cru around South Central
Los Angeles, and making a handful of recordings along the way.
In 1986, he met Ice Cube, and the two rappers began writing
songs for Ruthless Records, a label started by former drug
pusher Eazy-E. Eazy tried to give one of the duo's songs,
"Boyz N the Hood," to HBO, a group signed to
Ruthless. When the group refused, Eazy formed NWA -- an
acronym for Niggaz With Attitude -- with Dre and Cube,
releasing their first album in 1987. A year later, N.W.A.
delivered Straight Outta Compton, a vicious hardcore record
that became an underground hit with virtually no support from
radio, the press or MTV. N.W.A. became notorious for their
hardcore lyrics, especially those of "Fuck tha
Police," which resulted in the FBI sending a warning
letter to Ruthless and its parent company Priority, suggesting
that the group should watch their step.
Most of the group's political threat left with Ice Cube when
he departed in late 1989 admist many financial disagreements.
While Eazy-E appeared to be the undisputed leader following
Cube's departure -- and he was certainly responsible for the
group approaching near-parodic levels with their final pair of
records -- the music was in Dre's hands. On both the 1990 EP
100 Miles and Runnin' and the 1991 album Efil4zaggin ("Niggaz
4 Life" spelled backward), he created dense, funky sonic
landscapes that were as responsible for keeping NWA at the top
of the charts as Eazy's comic-book lyrics. While the group was
at the peak of their popularity in 1991, Dre began to make
efforts to leave the crew, especially after he was charged
with assaulting the host of a televised rap show in 1991. The
following year, Dre left the group to form Death Row Records
with Suge Knight. According to legend, Knight held NWA's
manager at gun point and threatening to kill him if he refused
to let Dre out of his contract.
Dr. Dre released his first solo single, "Deep
Cover," in the spring of 1992. Not only was the record
the debut of his elastic G-funk sound, it also was the
beginning of his collaboration with rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg.
Dre discovered Snoop through his stepbrother Warren G, and he
immediately began working with the rapper -- Snoop was on
Dre's 1992 debut The Chronic as much as Dre himself. Thanks to
the singles "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang," "Dre
Day" and "Let Me Ride," The Chronic was a
multi-platinum, Top 10 smash, and the entire world of hip-hop
changed with it. For the next four years, it was virtually
impossible to hear mainstream hip-hop that wasn't affected in
some way by Dr. Dre and his patented G-Funk. Not only did he
produce Snoop Dogg's 1993 debut Doggystyle, but he
orchestrated several soundtracks, including Above the Rim and
Murder Was the Case (both 1994), which functioned as samplers
for his new artists and production techniques, and he helmed
hit records by Warren G ("Regulate") and Blackstreet,
among others, including a hit reunion with Ice Cube,
"Natural Born Killaz." During this entire time, Dre
released no new records, but he didn't need to -- all of Death
Row was under his control and most of his peers mimicked his
techniques.
The Death Row dynasty held strong until the spring of 1996,
when Dre grew frustrated with Knight's strong-arm techniques.
At the time, Death Row was devoting itself to 2-Pac's label
debut All Eyez on Me (which featured Dre on the breakthrough
hit, "California Love") and Snoop was busy
recovering from his draining murder trial. Dre left the label
in the summer of 1996 to form Aftermath, declaring gangsta rap
was dead. While he was subjected to endless taunts from his
former Death Row colleagues, their sales slipped by 1997 and
Knight was imprisoned on racketeering charges by the end of
the year. Dre's first album for Aftermath, the various artists
collection Dr. Dre Presents...The Aftermath received
considerable media attention, but the record didn't become a
hit, despite the presence of his hit single, "Been There
Done That." Even though the album wasn't a success, the
implosion of Death Row in 1997 proved that Dre's inclinations
were correct at the time.
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